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ZTE was also present at CES 2015 and announced an upgraded version of the existing ZTE Grand X Max phablet. The new ZTE Grand X Max+ offers modest upgrades in the processor, camera and storage departments, all for $200 (RM715). The new model features a quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor clocked at 1.2GHz (instead of the old Snapdragon 200) with Adreno 305 GPU. There is twice the amount of RAM and storage inside. So, the Max+ comes with 2GB onboard RAM and 16GB of internal storage which can be further expanded up to 32GB. It retains the 6-inch display from the original Max with the same 720p resolution. This translates into a pixel density of 245 ppi which is quite low as compared to today's smartphone display standards. ZTE has upgraded the rear camera from 8MP to 13MP and there is a 5MP front shooter as well. The device will support high speed LTE networks and will run on Android 4.4 KitKat OS with ZTE's own UI on top. The company has not announced any details for a Malaysia release date of the device, but it will be available for sale in the US starting from 9 January 2015 for $200 (RM715).

On the first day of CES 2015, Samsung made only a handful of announcements, out of which none were smartphones. The next day, however, the South Korean giant announced two new mid-range devices – the Samsung Galaxy E7 and the Samsung Galaxy E5. Both the models take design inspiration from the existing Galaxy A lineup and come with an aluminum body. The tech specs are also similar to the A series models like the Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5. The first model, the Galaxy E7 features a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard expandable storage. On the front lies a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with 1280 x 720p resolution. There is a 13MP camera at the back and a 5MP shooter on the front. The E7 comes with dual SIM card slots. A 2950 mAh battery powers the device. The second model, namely the Galaxy E5 will sport lower tech specs. The phone will come with a quad-core SoC clocked at 1.2GHz with 1.5GB RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. The 5-inch display will come with 720p resolution. The rear camera is of 8MP and the front camera measures 5MP. Like the E7, this particular device will also have dual SIM card slots. As for battery, a 2400 mAh capacity one will power these tech specs. Both the models run on Android 4.4 KitKat OS but Samsung has hinted at a Lollipop upgrade sometime later this year. The company has yet to announce details like Malaysia release dates and pricing, but the Galaxy E7 and Galaxy E5 are priced at $363 (RM1298) and $305 (RM1091) in India. 

A few weeks back, some reports cropped up online hinting at a new Android powered smartphone from Kodak at CES 2015. The news was true indeed as the company unveiled its first ever smartphone called the Kodak IM5 recently. The phone will bear the Kodak name, but will be built by a third-party manufacturer called as Bullit. Unlike earlier predictions, which said that the new Kodak device will feature some unique camera tech, the IM5 turns out to be another mid-range smartphone. It comes with an octa-core Mediatek MT6592 processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB of expandable storage. This is the same configuration used by most cheap Android smartphones these days. There is a 5-inch display up front with 720p resolution. At the back, there is a 13MP rear camera and at the front, you have a 5MP shooter. Unfortunately, these cameras are pretty ordinary and there are very little customization options available to the user. The Kodak IM5 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat OS with a special UI developed in partnership with Bullit. This interface is reportedly simpler to use than stock Android and is aimed at first time smartphone users. The device is also quite cheap and will be available to retail for $249 (RM888) in US in Q1 2015. A Malaysia release date of the device is not expected anytime soon.

A few days before CES 2015, HTC had said that it would focus on the Desire lineup at the event held in Las Vegas. The company already announced the first Desire smartphone of the year, the Desire 320 and now, it has unveiled another Desire smartphone called as the HTC Desire 826. Unlike the entry level 320, this particular device will have top end tech specs. It also boasts of being the first HTC smartphone to run on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS out of the box. The HTC Desire 826 will be powered by a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. It sports a large 5.5-inch display with 1920 x 1080p resolution and features 13MP rear and 4MP Ultrapixel front cameras. These cameras are equipped with the special tools that were available on HTC Desire Eye selfie centric smartphone. Like most top end phones, the HTC Desire 826 comes with 4G LTE connectivity. As for the battery, the phone comes with a decent 2600 mAh battery onboard. HTC is yet to announce availability and pricing, but it is said that the phone will launch in China soon.

Along with the new Canon Connect Station CS100, the Japanese giant also unveiled a number of smart cameras and video recorders. In all, the company announced over eight devices at CES 2015 including new cameras in its PowerShot, ELPH and Vixia lineup. The company also added a photo printer in its Pixma range of affordable printers.  The new ranges of Canon devices are equipped with Wireless connectivity. Some in the PowerShot lineup even feature NFC. This helps them to connect with the company's newly launched CS100 media hub. The Canon PowerShot SX530 HS is the costliest of the lot and comes with 16MP sensor, 50x Optical Zoom, OIS, 1080p HD video support, high speed Autofocus and zoom framing assist. You get all these features for a $430 (RM1538) price tag. There are other cheaper models too in the range like the PowerShot SX710 HS and SX610 which feature 30x and 18x zoom and retail for $350 (RM1252) and $250 (RM894) respectively. In the PowerShot ELPH range, Canon added two new affordable models. Both feature 20MP sensors, 12X zoom and 720p video support. The costlier $150 (RM537) ELPH 170 IS model features OIS, which is not found in the $120 (RM429) ELPH 160 model. As for the Vixia video camera lineup, Canon has made three new additions. The costlier VIXIA HF R62 features a larger battery and retails for $430 (RM1538) as opposed to the $400 (RM1430) VIXIA R60. Finally, the VIXIA HF R600 is the cheapest of the lot at $300 (RM1073). Canon has managed to reduce the price by removing wireless connectivity in this model. The company also unveiled a $100 (RM357) Pixma photo printer MX492at the event which wirelessly connects to smartphones and computers.

Garmin is a world renowned company specializing in GPS navigation products. The company is now shifting its focus to a hot new industry – wearables, as it recently announced three new smartwatches at CES 2015 in Las Vegas. First in the lot is the Garmin Vivoactive, which is also the company's first dedicated smartwatch. It comes with a square design like the LG G Watch and features the company's first app market called as the Connect IQ. The Vivoactive can display a number of information right on its small touchscreen display like emails, texts, social media interactions, calendar, reminders and missed calls. It can track distance as well as speed, thanks to the in-built GPS radio. The onboard battery typically lasts for three weeks…

Samsung Malaysia recently launched their Samsung Galaxy A5 and Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphones. Aimed at the young and trendy, the new smartphones feature a metal unibody chassis with ultra-slim design. With the Galaxy A3 priced at RM899 and the Galaxy A5 going for RM1199, these should make for an attractive and reasonably affordable device for the young Malaysian user. As such, Samsung have included a number of selfie centric features such as wide-selfies and palm, voice and audio activated selfies to take advantage of the 5MP front camera avalable in all of these smartphones. Both the Galaxy A5 and A3 will be available in Malaysia starting from 9 January 2015. The higher-end Samsung Galaxy A7 is expected to come in February 2015 for a retail price of RM1499. There will also be a Bestnya Bersama music campaign featuring the Samsung Galaxy A series soon. In the meantime, do check out our hands-on pictures, tech specs and videos below:

• Samsung Galaxy A5
• 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor
• 2GB RAM
• 16GB storage + up to 64GB microSD
• 5-inch Super AMOLED display (720 x 1280 pixel resolution, 294 ppi pixel density)
• 13MP rear camera (autofocus, LED flash) + 5MP front camera
• 139.3  x  69.7  x  6.7 mm | 123g
• supports 4G LTE, NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, A-GPS
• Android 4.4.4 KitKat
• 2300 mAh battery

• Samsung Galaxy A3
• 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB storage + up to 64GB microSD
• 4.5-inch Super AMOLED display (540 x 960 pixel resolution, 245 ppi pixel density)
• 8MP rear camera (autofocus, LED flash) + 5MP front camera
• 130.1  x  65.5  x  6.9 mm | 110.3g
• supports 4G LTE, NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, A-GPS
• Android 4.4.4 KitKat
• 1900 mAh battery

At CES 2015 Intel made quite a few announcements, but one of the most important was for the 5th Generation Intel Core processor family. Utilizing a 14nm fabrication process, the new Intel Core processors include Intel HD graphics and Intel Iris graphics based on the Intel Broadwell microarchitecture. While these new 5th Generation Intel Core processors will be making their way to notebooks, 2-in-1 devices, ultrabooks, chromebooks, mini PCs, desktops and other devices, Intel is also readying their new Cherry Trail range of processors for mobile devices. These Cherry Trail processors are also made using a 14nm fabrication process, offer 64-bit computing, Intel Generation 8-LP graphics and LTE-Advanced connectivity via the Intel XMM 726x platform for Cat6 speeds. We expect Cherry Trail tablets to arrive sometime in Q1 or Q2 of 2015 despite there being no Malaysia release dates or pricing details just yet. Here's what Intel had to say about Cherry Trail:

"Intel’s 14nm, next-generation Intel Atom processor for tablets, “Cherry Trail”, will offer new user experiences such as Intel RealSense technology, no wires, no passwords and Intel® Context Aware™ technology capabilities, bringing new innovation and excitement to tablets. Intel RealSense Snapshot provides depth-sensing photo capabilities, giving people the power to change focus, take measurements, and add dynamic effects and motion to pictures with a touch of a finger. With its no wires capabilities, Cherry Trail enables tablets to wirelessly display content to a big screen or projector. Cherry Trail will also enable users to login with their face, fingerprint or a trusted device they assigned. Using an accelerometer, sound and light sensors, and information from the cloud, Intel Context Aware technology can determine the context or environment someone is in and provide information based on those surroundings."

Yesterday, LG announced its successor to the LG G Flex smartphone at the CES 2015 event held in Las Vegas. The new LG G Flex 2 comes with a sleeker profile and a number of additional features, making it a true successor to the G Flex curved smartphone. LG has incorporated some important changes in the new device, like a smaller display with a higher resolution, top of the line Snapdragon 810 processor, Laser AutoFocus from the LG G3 and a fast charging battery. Apart from the impressive tech specs, the overall design has been improved to make the phone more ergonomic. The 5.5-inch display with a 700mm radius curvature makes it fit perfectly in the user's hands. Thanks to the curvature, the microphone is much closer to the mouth, thereby reducing background noise. The self-healing feature also makes a comeback, but this time it is much faster and effective. LG has managed to reduce the heal time from 3 minutes to just 10 seconds in normal room temperature. With the help of a special chemical treatment process developed by the company, the cover glass on the display is now 20 percent more durable too. The 3000 mAh battery onboard charges up to 50 percent in just 40 minutes. LG will start selling the G Flex 2 in South Korea by the end of January and will later release it in additional global markets. Full tech specs of the LG G Flex2 are given below.

• 64-bit 2.0 GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor
• Adreno T430
• 2GB DDR4 RAM
• 16 / 32GB memory + expandable storage up to 2TB
• 5.5-inch display (1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, Curved P-OLED, 403 ppi)
• 13MP rear camera (Laser Auto Focus, OIS) + 2.1MP front camera
• 149.1 x 75.3 x 7.1-9.4mm | 152 grams
• Supports 4G / LTE / HSPA+, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, GPS, USB 2.0
• Features Gesture Shot, Gesture View and Glance View
• 3000 mAh battery (Fast Charge)
• Android 5.0 Lollipop
• Available in Platinum Silver / Flamenco Red

A few days back, HTC had hinted that it would focus on the 'Desire' range at CES 2015. The Taiwanese company today unveiled its first Desire smartphone of the year, the all new HTC Desire 320. Like the name suggests, this particular device is the successor to the Desire 310 that was announced about a year back. As for the tech specs, the phone features almost the same specifications as the previous generation model. It comes with a 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 512MB/ 1GB RAM options depending upon the region of release. Users can choose between 4GB and 8GB for internal storage and can even expand it further via MicroSD card slot. An external memory card is essential given the fact that the 4GB model has just 1.5GB of free memory available to the user after system and apps. The display remains the same as the Desire 310, a 4.5-inch FWVGA resolution screen. There is a 5MP camera at the back, which can take videos at Full HD 1080p resolution and a VGA front camera. As for the connectivity options, the Desire 320 features quad-band 2G and 3G (HSPA) network support, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS and Bluetooth 4.0. The phone runs on Android 4.4 KitKat OS and comes with a 2100mAh battery which provides up to 12 hours of 3G talk time. The phone will first release in UK followed by other regions. It is currently available in Canada for $99 (RM351). HTC has yet to reveal a Malaysia pricing or release date of the model but the current Desire 310 retails for around RM460.